Nine teens partying at a park near Louisville, Kentucky were accosted by a man, angry that they were not social distancing. First he shoves a few kids, then straddles a a girl who was sitting on the ground and begins to strangle her.
The man, John Rademaker, is a 57-year-old doctor who has been charged with “first-degree strangulation and three counts of harassment with physical contact,” according to The Daily Beast.
Rademaker, a physician for Southern Indiana Anesthesia Consultants, has been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation. According to online records, he was released from jail Tuesday.
According to witness and a 26-second video of the incident that later went viral, the altercation began Friday at about 8:30 p.m. when Rademaker and a woman approached nine teenagers who were sitting at the lakefront amphitheater about 20 minutes outside of Louisville.
The teenagers, who were defying the state’s stay-at-home order established to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, immediately tried to wave off the two adults who were cursing at them for not adhering to the CDC’s social-distancing recommendations.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by WDRB, Rademaker choked the 18-year-old for several seconds before other bystanders intervened and pulled him off. The teenager, who has not been identified, suffered a red mark on her neck but did not require hospitalization.